Scientists at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), one of the National Institutes of Health, and their colleagues have isolated human postnatal stem cells for the first time directly from the periodontal ligament, the fibrous, net-like tendon that holds our teeth in their sockets.
The scientists also say these cells have "tremendous potential" to regenerate the periodontal ligament, a common target of advanced gum (periodontal) disease. This enthusiasm is based on follow up experiments, in which the researchers implanted the human adult stem cells into rodents, and most of the cells differentiated into a mixture of periodontal ligament — including the specific fiber bundles that attach tooth to bone — and the mineralized tissue called cementum that covers the roots of our teeth.
"The stem cells produced beautifully dense, regenerated tissue in the animals," said Dr. Songtao Shi, a senior author on the paper and an NIDCR scientist. "That was when we knew they had great potential one day as a treatment for periodontal disease, and we're continuing to follow up on this promise with additional animal work." The results are published in the current issue of The Lancet.
Shi said scientists have suspected since the 1970s that the periodontal ligament might contain its own unique stem cells. But, for a variety of technical reasons, the search had come up empty, leaving some to wonder whether stem cells could be extracted from such a tiny bit of tissue known to contain a confusing mixture of cell types and subsets.

When George Bush quietly dismissed two members of his Council on Bioethics on the last Friday in February, he probably assumed the news would get buried under the weekend’s distractions. But ten days later, it’s still hot—see, for example, two articles in Slate, and an editorial in the Washington Post, as well as Chris Mooney's ongoing coverage at his blog. Bush failed to appreciate just how obvious the politics were behind the move. The two dismissed members (bioethicist William May and biochemist Elizabeth Blackburn) have been critical of the Administration. Their replacements (two political scientists and a surgeon) have spoken out before about abortion and stem cell research, in perfect alignment with the Administration. Bush also failed to appreciate just how exasperated scientists and non-scientists alike are becoming at the way his administration distorts science in the service of politics (see this report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, which came out shortly before the bioethics flap). And finally, Bush failed to appreciate that Blackburn would not discreetly slink away. Instead, she fired off a fierce attack on the council, accusing them of misrepresenting the science behind stem cell research and other hot-button issues in order to hype non-existent dangers.
The chairman of the council, Leon Kass, failed as well when he tried to calm things down last Wednesday. He claimed that the shuffling had nothing to do with politics, and that he knew nothing about the personal of his new council members. Reporters have pointed out the many opportunities when Kass almost certainly did learn about those views.

By ANDREW POLLACK
In cloning human embryos and extracting universal stem cells, scientists in South Korea have taken a big step toward a tantalizing goal: growing tailor-made replacement tissues for people who are sick or injured. Imagine new cardiac muscles to restore a heart after a heart attack, insulin-producing cells for diabetics or neurons to stave off Parkinson's disease.
But significant scientific barriers lie between this accomplishment and any actual therapy, experts said. Moreover, ethical objections have put such research off-limits to some scientists — including the many in the United States who rely on federal money — and lack of investment has felled many companies trying to develop cell-replacement therapies.
The South Korean work is a step toward what is called "therapeutic cloning." The work so far is "proof of concept of cloning but it's not therapeutic yet," said Dr. Steven A. Goldman, chief of the division of cell and gene therapy at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SACRAMENTO,(AP) — Gov. Gray Davis today signed a law that explicitly allows research on stem cells from fetal and embryonic tissue.
The measure is meant to encourage the type of research that the Bush administration made subject to federal limits last year. State officials said they believed they were the first in the country to take such a step.
Mr. Davis was joined in announcing the law by the actor Christopher Reeve, who became a stem cell research advocate after an accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. Mr. Davis, Mr. Reeve and other supporters said the legislation was necessary to keep California at the forefront of medical research. The bill was opposed by the Roman Catholic Church and anti-abortion groups.
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Tampa, FL — Intravenous injections of cells from human umbilical cord blood improved the neurological and motor function of rats recovering from severe traumatic brain injury, researchers at Henry Ford Health Sciences Center (HFHSC), Detroit, and the University of South Florida (USF), Tampa, found.
The study appears in tomorrow's issue of the journal Cell Transplantation, a special issue that focuses on emerging approaches in neural transplantation and brain repair. It is one of several articles exploring the therapeutic potential of human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) cells as an alternative to embryonic stem cells.
While studies of cellular therapies continue to grow in importance, the emphasis has been on neurological diseases like Parkinson's disease and stroke, and, more recently, on spinal cord injury.

Tampa, FL — University of South Florida neuroscientist Tanja Zigova, PhD, has been awarded a $1.3-million federal grant to study whether stem cells from human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) can rescue the brain from age-related decline.
Using an animal model, the 5-year, National Institute on Aging study will address critical questions about HUCB cells' true potential to successfully treat the normal mental declines of aging as well as neurodegenerative diseases.
Studies at USF and elsewhere have suggested that HUCB may be a noncontroversial and more readily available source of therapeutic cells for treating neurological diseases like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease and brain injuries such as stroke.

Scientists report for the first time that “baby” teeth, the temporary teeth that children begin losing around their sixth birthday, contain a rich supply of stem cells in their dental pulp. The researchers say this unexpected discovery could have important implications because the stem cells remain alive inside the tooth for a short time after it falls out of a child’s mouth, suggesting the cells could be readily harvested for research.
According to the scientists, who published their findings online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the stem cells are unique compared to many “adult” stem cells in the body. They are long lived, grow rapidly in culture, and, with careful prompting in the laboratory, have the potential to induce the formation of specialized dentin, bone, and neuronal cells. If followup studies extend these initial findings, the scientists speculate they may have identified an important and easily accessible source of stem cells that possibly could be manipulated to repair damaged teeth, induce the regeneration of bone, and treat neural injury or disease.
“Doctors have successfully harvested stem cells from umbilical cord blood for years,” said Dr. Songtao Shi, a scientist at NIH’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and the senior author on the paper. “Our finding is similar in some ways, in that the stem cells in the tooth are likely latent remnants of an early developmental process.”

Toni Baker
Dr. Paul Sohal, developmental biologist at the Medical College of Georgia, is exploring the potential for a possible new cell type he's found that is capable of making all four of the major human tissues.] A cell type with the potential for making the four major types of human tissue has been found in the stomach and small intestine by a Medical College of Georgia researcher.
These VENT cells have been found in addition to the three sources of cells typically associated with gastrointestinal development, says Dr. Paul Sohal, MCG developmental biologist, who first identified these cells nearly a decade ago.
Identification of VENT -- ventrally emigrating neural tube -- cells within the stomach and small intestine is another piece in Dr. Sohal’s effort to fully define and describe the cells that he first found migrating out from the neural tube of a chick embryo.
Copyright 2003 Medical College of Georgia All rights reserved.

Cloned Cells Cure Parkinson’s in Rat Model
Scientists at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago have discovered an important shortcut to creating a more efficient, more reliable, and safer source of stem cells with the ability to turn into specific neurons or brain cells. Paul Carvey, PhD, chairman of pharmacology at Rush, used his team's discovery to clone several generations of stem cells that, when grafted into the brains of rats with a Parkinson's like disease, developed into healthy dopamine neurons. This effectively cured the animals' severe Parkinsonian symptoms. The ability to clone large numbers of stem cells that would become neurons also has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and numerous other diseases and disorders of the brain and nervous system.
The findings, and their clinical significance, were presented at the Experimental Biology 2002 meetings in New Orleans last month.
This study is the first to identify the signal that instructs stem/progenitor cells to become dopamine neurons, the cells that degenerate in the brain of patients with Parkinson's disease.

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL - Researchers at the University of Minnesota provide evidence for the first time that stem cells derived from adult bone marrow and injected into the blastocyst of a mouse can differentiate into all major types of cells found in the brain. The results of the research are published as the lead article in the April 25, 2003 issue of Cell Transplantation. The potential of these adult stem cells, termed multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPCs), were the subject of research reported in Nature in June 2002. The research reported this week in Cell Transplantation takes a specific look at the ability of MAPCs to develop into cells typically found in the brain.
Adult stem cells were injected into a mouse blastocyst, an early embryonic stage of a mouse. The result is the birth of a chimerical animal an animal that shows the presence of both the cells from the host mouse as well as cells that have developed from the transplanted stem cells. Within the brain, the transplanted stem cells developed into nerve cells that typically conduct electrical impulses, glial cells that provide support to the nerve cells, and myelin-forming cells that enhance the conduction of electrical impulses by nerve cells.
“This research takes our findings a step further,” said principal investigator Walter C. Low, Ph.D., department of Neurosurgery, University of Minnesota Medical School.